Meat tenderizing machine



April 3, 1951 w. F. sPANG 2,547,234

' MEAT TENDERIZING MACHINE Filed July 1e, 1948 s sheets-sheet 1 April 3,1951 w. F. sPANG 2,547,234

MEAT TENDERIZING MACHINE Filed July 1e, 194s s sheets-sheet 2 owneysApril 3, 1951 w. F. sPANG MEAT TENDERIZING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet .'5

Filed -July 16, 1$48 Wizzmz'sp y wnpmwmr Patented Apr. 3, 1951 UNITEDsTATEsFe Tsui' orties MEAT TENDERIZING MACHINE a partnership ApplicationJuly 16, 1948, Serial No. 39,069

11 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in machines for tenderizing meat,particularly steaks.

Such machines employ one or more rotary gangs of coaxial and relativelyspaced disk-like knives Y which sever the sinews and tenderize the meatas it is passed through the machine. Continuous operation ofthe machinecauses the formation of meat dust and particles which gather on andbetween the cutting knives. The primary object of the invention residesin the production of a knife cleaning unit cooperating with" the knivesfor keeping them clean and eliminating this objection. l

Stripping ngers are employed for stripping the meat from the knivesafter passing throughv the machine and my improved knife cleaningmechanism includes fingers preferably combined with and disposedrearwardly of the strippingY Athereof selected for purposes ofillustration and shown in the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 isa sectional view through a meat tenderizing machine embodying theinvention, Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view taken on line 2 2 of Fig. 1, Y

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary View taken on line 3-3 0f Fig. l,

' Fig. 4 is an end elevation of the stripping comb and cleaning ngerunit,

Fig.'5 is a like view showing the cleanin fingers in another position, n

Fig. 6 is a `fragmentary sectional view of a modified construction,

Fig. 7 is a front elevation of the stripping comb 2 Continuous operationof themachine causes the formation of meat dust and particles whichgather on and between the cutting knives. If

allowed to accumulate this formation interferes and cleaning fingerunit, partially broken away,

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary planview thereof, and Fig. 9 is an end elevationof the unit supporting frame.

" Referring first to Figs. 1 5 of the drawings, l0

indicates a housing within which are mounted two rotary shafts l2 eachprovided with a gang of meatrcutting and tenderizing knives. While Ihave illustrated continuous disk cutters Hi on one shaft and interrupteddisk-like cutters l5 on the other shaft, it will be understood that anydesired arrangement may be employed. Means is provided for rotating theshafts in the opposite directions indicated by the arrows. Meat to betreated is fed downwardly between the two sets of knives and relativelylong stripping fingers i6 and It are disposed between the shafts andknives for guiding the meat and stripping it from the knives.

with the cutting efficiency of the knives and produces an unsanitarycondition. The primary feature of the invention relates to a novelcombination of cleaning fingers associated with the knives andpreferably forming a-unit with the stripping fingers. As illustrated inthe drawings, each set of stripping fingers i6 and I8 is supported onand along a bar 20 having its two ends 22 extending outwardly beyond thefingers. The shafts l2 are mounted in two uprights 2li 'at the ends ofthe machine and a plate 25 is mounted on each upright. The plates areslotted at 28 to receive the ends 22 of the bar in position to supportthe bars and stripping lingers as shown in Fig. 1.

A comb of cleaning' fingers 3l) is associated with each gang of cuttersand each comb embodies a plurality of relatively short fingers supportedon a bar 32 pivoted to the bar 2d at 33, the cleaning fingers beingsubstantially parallel with the stripn ping nngers and in alignmenttherewith trans-* downwardly and maintain close and continuous contactat their ends.

The disk-like knives are held in spaced relation on the shafts l2 byannular spacers on the shafts between the knives, the spacers formingthe bottom walls of the gaps between the knives. The cleaning fingers 39are of .a width substantially equal to the spacing of adjacent knivesand of a length extending substantially to the spacers and entirelyabove the rotary aXis of the shaft I2, the free ends of the fingerspreferably being in direct contact with the spacers. n

As will be apparent, the cleaning fingers clean the meat particles* fromthe'knives in advance of their engagement with the meat fed between theknives, and these particles accumulate at Si rearwardly of the cleaninglingers. The units, including the bars 20 and 32, are freely removablemerely by lifting them from the slots 28 and they are pivotally movablerelative to each other to the position 'of Fig. 5 for easy and thoroughcleaning. yThe cutters can thus be thoroughly cleaned by iiushing withwater with the gang cut- 3 ters either removed from or remaining in themachine.

In Fig` 6 I have illustrated a modified construction employing a gang ofdisk cutters 40 on a shaft 42 and a cooperating meat supporting roll 4t!on a shaft 46. A meat stripping and cleaning finger unit 4l' cooperateswith the cutters da similar to that cooperating with the cutters lil inFig. l. The roll 44 is annularly grooved at i8 and provided with meatengaging projections i) on its periphery between the grooves. A comb ofmeat stripping fingers 52 is mounted in the grooves 43. The fingers 52are carried on a bar .itl supported at its ends in two slots 28. Allstripping and cleaning units are removable for cleaning purposes merelyby lifting the bars upwardly from the supporting slots.

Having thus disclosed my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent:

1. In a meat tenderizing machine, a rotary f gang of disk-like knivesmounted in spaced relation providing gaps therebetween on and along ashaft, spacers on the shaft respectively between the knives and formingthe bottom walls of the gaps, means parallel with the gang andcooperating with its periphery in supporting and conducting meattherebetween and in cutting contact with the knives, lingers disposedbetween adjacent knives and extending between the spacers and the firstVnamed means for stripping the cut meat from the knives, and cleaningnngers disposed rearwardly of the fingers and extending downwardlybetween the knives above the shaft, said cleaning fingers being of awidth substantially equal to the spacing of adjacent knives and of alength extending substantially to the spacers and entirely above therotary axis of the shaft.

2. The meat tenderizing machine defined in claim l in which the freeends of the cleaning fingers rest by gravity on saidI bottom walls ofthe gaps between the knives.

3. The meat tenderizing machine dened in claim 2 in which the cleaningfingers contact said bottom walls at downwardly moving portions thereof,thereby maintaining the fingers in close contact with such walls.

4. The meat tenderizing machine defined in claim 1 plus an elongated bardisposed above the gang of knives and supporting the stripping ngers andcleaning fingers depending therefrom, and means at its ends forremovably supporting the bar.

5. The meat tenderizing machine defined in claim 4 in which said bar islin two pieces respectively carrying the stripping lingers and cleaningfingers and pivoted together on an axis disposed longitudinally of thebar.

6. In a meat tenderizing machine, two cooperating and parallel unitseach embodying a rotary gang of disk-like knives mounted in spacedrelation providing gaps therebetween on and along a shaft, spacers onthe shaft respectively between the knives and forming the bottom wallsof the gaps, the peripheral portion of the knives of the two unitsoverlapping at a plane extending through the rotary axes of the twounits, fingers disposed between the blades of the two units forstripping meat therefrom after it has passed between the units, andcleaning fingers extending into and substantially filling the gapsbetween the knives rearwardly of the stripping fingers,

the free ends of the cleaning ngers being disposed above said axes.

7. The meat tenderizing machine defined in claim 6 in which thestripping fingers extend ,downwardly between the rotary axes of the twounits and the free ends of the cleaning fingers rest by gravity onportions of the bottom walls of said gaps that are rotated downwardly,thereby maintaining the cleaning fingers in close contact with suchwalls.

8. In a meat tenderizing machine, a frame, a gang of disk-like knivesmounted in spaced relation providing gaps therebetween on and along ashaft rotatably mounted in the frame, spacers on the ,shaft respectivelybetween the knives and forming the bottom walls of the gaps, anelongated bar, means supporting the bar at its ends on the framedisposed along and above said gang, meat stripping fingers carried bythe bar and extending downwardly through the gang between the knives,and relatively shorter cleaning fingers carried by the bar rearwardly ofthe stripping fingers and extending downwardly between the knives andhaving their free ends in contact with the bottom walls of the gapsbetween the knives.

9. The machine defined in claim 8 in which the cleaning fingers aresubstantially parallel with the stripping iingers and having said freeends in contact with downwardly moving portions of the walls, therebytending to maintain the bar and fingers in seated position downwardly.

l0. A stripping comb and cleaning finger unit for meat treatingmachines, comprising an elongated bar, a row of uniformly spaced meatstripping fingers carried by and extending laterally outward from thebar, a row of relatively shorter knife cleaning fingers carried by thebar, the cleaning fingers being spaced from and disposed respectively inalignment with the stripping iingers transversely of the bar, the barextending outwardly beyond the fingers at its ends and being adapted tobe supported at such ends adjacent to a rotary gang of coaxial andrelatively spaced disk-like knives with the ngers extending between theknives.

1l. In a meat tenderizing machine, a frame, a gang of disk-like knivesmounted in spaced reiation providing gaps therebetween on and along ashaft rotatably mounted in the frame, spacers on the shaft respectivelybetween the knives and forming the bottom walls of the gaps, anelongated bar, a row of knife cleaning fingers carried by and spaceduniformly along and extending laterally outward from the bar, and meanssupporting the bar at its ends on the frame disposed along and abovesaid gang with the ngers extending downwardly in the gaps between theknives and with their free ends in contact With the bottom walls of thegaps at one side of a vertical plane passing through the rotary axis ofthe gang.

WILLIAM F. SPANG.

REFERENCES CYTED FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Germany June 22, 1940Number

